SPAIN (2017- August): Swim The Arco

Attendees of Swim the Door Espanol.

Sea Arches

The reason that a group of us went to the Asturias region in Spain was because we (well Sandra) discovered that it has plenty of sea arches and therefore we (well Sandra, Diane and Julia) decided this would be a good destination for STD (abroad).

It turns out its quite famous for them and lots of people go looking for them at Playa de las Catedrales. However, they are quite difficult to find.

Here, Julia is using her smart phone to try and find a sea arch (ITS BEHIND YOU!)

Fortunately, the group had remembered to take Digger with them who was able to spot this sea arch on Playa Penarronda. NOTE. the perspective of this photo makes the sea arch look quite big.

Its actually quite a small sea arch. NOTE. the perspective on this photo makes it look smaller than it looks (and thank goodness Digger had lost some weight before the holiday!)

Swimming it was quite easy and as Zoe fought her way in the currents under the arch she was heard to comment “its warmer than last year”.

In some of the sea arches you could, almost, walk through

But others, you definitely had to swim.

But it was compulsory to look happy (and warm).

The best of all the sea arches was, of course, was El Durdle Door. Here if you closely at this photo, taken by Heidi at 19.31, you can probably see the successful swimmers waving/teasing the lifeguards. The latter, who don’t like people “swimming the door” all knock off sharply at 19.30 hence this evening STD.

As is traditional at STD events the group photo is always taken before anyone enters the water- just incase not everyone makes it back to shore (photo by Heidi). NOTE. who is that thin and highly attractive man on the far left?

Romans

Of course, it wasn’t all about the coast and sea swimming, there were of course important Roman remains to see like the town walls at Lugo………….Well that’s enough of that.

Socialising (ie drinking)

Playa Penarronda had a bar on the beach- which was handy as it was a 5 minute walk from there to our cabins and I doubt we would have made the walk if it without a drinks break.

Big towns like Lugo had restaurants that were prepared to serve us. NOTE the Lukes “boys” in the foreground of this photo.

Of course, the cabins were a focus of socialising (but remember the sites rules that campers and cabin people are not to mix so don’t show this photo to anyone).

But just like in Britain, when it rains bus shelters are a good place to socialise.

Famous people

The one on the left obviously.

The one on the left obviously.

Famous places

Yes. Its difficult to believe that so many people think Las Vegas is in the USA.

River swimming

Another thing that not many people know is that you can swim in the river by Las Vegas.

And you can swim downstream of Las Vegas.

There are areas allocated and even signposted for river swimming in this part of Spain.

DETAILS OF SWIM CAN BE FOUND ON THE NEW SWIM SPOT PAGES OF THIS WEBSITE

Durdle Door is a natural sea arch in Dorset. Every year a party of like-minded individual get together for the weekend to swim through this impressive place. This year's dates are likely to be 8th - 10th June 2018.